Solana Beach woman will give books to patients at cancer center

On Monday, she’ll combine those two passions when she hands out 20 copies of Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” to patients at the John Moores Cancer Infusion Center in La Jolla, where her father spent two years battling lymphoma and ultimately winning.

George Beebe has been in remission for nearly three years. Leslie Beebe said it’s time for her to give back to the place that saved the life of the man she says is the center of her life.

“When my dad was diagnosed, I thought I could save him but I can’t. I’m not a doctor,” Beebe said. “I had to have faith that he would be OK.”

Beebe was chosen from about 40,000 applicants to be part of World Book Night, a program that sends “givers” out to hospitals, nursing homes and even mass transit stops to hand out books and promote reading.

She said she noticed so many people at the Moores Center without anything to do during their treatment while her father spent time there between 2007 and 2009. When she heard about the World Book Night event, she knew she needed to go back to the Moores Center.

“I’m not a religious person at all but there’s something from Saint Luke that says ‘to whom much is given, much is expected,” Beebe said. “And I have been given so much.”

To get involved with next year’s World Book Night, go to worldbooknight.org.